Overview
This 10 centimetre-long toe bone comes from the hind leg of a Theropod, one of a group of large carnivorous dinosaurs. (Tyrannosaurus rex also belongs to this group.)
Joan Wiffen, a self-taught fossil expert, found the bone in inland Hawke’s Bay, in 70-million year-old rocks from the Late Cretaceous period.
In 1975, Wiffen found the first dinosaur bone in New Zealand. It was a remarkable discovery that rewrote the textbooks of this country’s natural history. Before then, there was no evidence that dinosaurs had ever lived in Zealandia.
Fossils from at least six types of dinosaur have since been found in the same streambed location in Hawke's Bay.